Second Sight
by The Thing in the Cave
Summary: An essay-like-thing I wrote about how the fact that Tiny could see Gwen's anodite form relates to real life. Not an April Fool's joke. I know it's Non-fiction, but if you can give it a try, I'll be happy. :3
1. Chapter 1

This is a mini-essay thing I wrote about some odd connections I made while watching the episode "Unearthed." This is totally, 100% non-fiction. I didn't make any of it up. I'd cite my sources, even, but I don't know how the people here feel about linking off-site. (I'm assigning myself schoolwork for the show I love- strange.) I tried my best not to make it boring, so enjoy.

(Also, I know that I'm posting this on April Fools day, but this isn't a joke. )

**DISCLAIMER: Do I need one of these for an essay? Well, I don't own anything. Not Ben 10, not the quotes, not the comic strip, nothing. I just own the essay. :)**

* * *

A long, long time ago (it's probably been a few months, but that's a long time in Cavey-years), I was lurking around a forum I didn't have the guts to join, and I still don't. That's when I came across an odd term, which I'm not sure if I should repeat. Not that it's inappropriate or anything, but I don't want to push these people into the spotlight without their consent.

These people, because of their beliefs, often get something called phantom limb syndrome. That is when you feel a limb that is not actually there, like if you got your arm bitten off by a shark but can still feel it sometimes. Only, with these people, they feel ones that shouldn't even be on a human, like angel wings or dragon tails. I didn't think much of it until I saw a comic strip about it, which got me really interested.

It was a lady, who looked very grumpy, taking a walk down the sidewalk. Then a man with a baby stroller passes by, and the baby points at her and shouts "Look Daddy, that person has wings!" Then the dad just says "Yes dear," and walks off. As for the lady, it just made her day.

This is a phenomenon that the author referred to as "Second sight," in which a small child (or a cat! :3) is able to see what others can't, like phantom limbs. And, according to her, this stuff is commonplace in the community that she's making the comic for. I checked out the comments, and she was right about it being common. Here's one that really caught my eye:

"Little kid, open mall, comes running riiiight over to me once when I'm happily entrenched in heavy winter clothes and starts patting me on the butt. X3 Cue very apologetic Asian father, saying sorry, and me grinning as the little kid goes, "Kitsu! Kitsu! Tail alllll ruffled up! Kitsu!!!". Made my week. X3"

Along with that, where were several reports of being called "doggy" or something. I even found it on another website, and it was a report from a person who wasn't part of this group saying how babies always seem to be overly interested in his "wings."

Enough droning. Anyway, this struck me as odd, so I made a decision. I was going to test this. But how do you? Simple.

1. Imagine that you have wings coming out of your back, then go into the minute detail, feeling ever little feather.

2. Keep imagining these wings until it becomes second nature to feel them.

3. Get into some kind of situation with a small child you don't know yet and see how they react.

And that's just what I did. I'm going to skip the part where I get big hulking eagle wings, just for the sake of making this shorter.

I was at karate, in the middle of an instructor training class. The head instructor was talking about something mildly interesting, and we were all doing a good job listening and paying attention. Then, from across the room, his baby son started cracking up and crawling towards me. He stood up on his knees, reached out, and started pawing at my back like a madman. He looked like he expected to touch something, but he kept falling though it. And, his hand was always hitting right where the base of my wing was. He would have been there for hours if his mom didn't come in and take him away.

While the rest of the class was confused, I was about to burst into hysterics. He obviously knew the wings were there. I pretty much just proved it for myself. Whether the wings were spiritual limbs or just mental constructs, some babies (if not all) can sense them. Maybe, like the baby's memory, that sense is removed (or at least weakened) when it reaches a certain age.

Have I proved my point yet? No? Well then, try it for yourself and see if you get the same results. You may have to try a few times, though. (Plus, it doesn't have to be wings- it could be a tail, or maybe you could go Trogdor and have an arm coming out of the back of you neck. xD)

So, as you can see, the second Tiny saw Gwen's true form, "Unearthed" became one of the all time favorites. Not only because of a reference to one of my favorite things, but because of all the questions it raised.

Does this mean that, like the people I was talking about, Gwen often _feels_ like an Anodite rather than a human? It probably wouldn't be too extreme, because they share the same body shape as humans. But what about the energy-hair? Does she often feel that coming off her, even in human form? If she does, I'd guess that she doesn't like people getting too close to the back of her head.

Anyway, I hope you have fun tossing these ideas around. If you come up with anything to add to this, or you try the experiment, please review with your insights/results. Also, if there's anyone out there who is part of this community I keep mentioning (you know who you are), and you have had experience with this, please PM me. We'll talk cats. I want to try this out with our little fuzzy friends. :3


	2. Authors Note

AUTHORS NOTE:

Well, hello there. Since I haven't been flamed or called an insane psychopath yet, I'll give a little feedback on my reviews, give another theory about Gwen and Tiny, share with you another phantom-limb-related story that happened yesterday, and then announce what I'll do with this so I don't have to have one of these authors notes every other chapter.

REVIEWS:

#1.

"To be fair, you probably should have created a forum on this subject (it's more appropriate, considering the never-enforced rules), but I still have to admit you make some very interesting claims. I've never heard of this 'phantom non-limb', but I know enough about the real phantom limb that I think what you're saying definitely has merit.

I was a little bothered by the fact that "Unearthed" really offered no explanation for why Tiny could instinctively see Gwen's Anodite 'aura' (that's what I call it, anyway :)), and I certainly can't say you're wrong. In any case, this was a really interesting (non-fiction) tale! :)"

I would have been bothered by the lack of explanation too, but because I figured it out in two seconds from prior knowledge, I didn't feel like I needed one.

As for the rule thing, I didn't know. But, in case this is shut down… I'll talk about that later. Anyway-

#2

"I've never had this kind of experience, but this...this is truly amazing. It makes me want to try it out for myself; maybe with a tail or something, lol. Or cat ears.

And now you have me thinking that same thing about Gwen, wondering if she feels more like an Anodite sometimes...it poses a lot of questions about her future in the series. If they really are planning to continue it, that is."

If you're an everyday person that's not part of any strange subcultures, I wouldn't expect you to have experienced this. But I'm really glad you're going to try this. Tell me if two year olds start calling you "kitty." :D

And they better continue it. Or else, I'll be mad. And my brother will be sad. As for the posing questions thing, very true. I wonder how she sees others. Does she always see a little glowing mana-field around people, or does she just see people, but feel their energy? It boggles my mind. There should be some little short that we see completely through Gwen's eyes.

THEORY:

So, why did Tiny decided that Gwen could help, when she didn't do anything but fight Ben and Kevin? It wasn't because she shielded her. And it wasn't her species (although, that's part of what caused the difference to take place.)

Think about it. What did most of those things Tiny collected have in common? A power core, a stop light, a blinking construction sign…

That's right. They all lit up. Maybe she connected colored lights with the alien tech her family used back home. Or maybe she just thought they were pretty. But either way, she wanted light.

Gwen, thanks to Tiny's ability to see her true form, and coupled with the fact that it was nighttime with no artificial lights close by, pretty much turned her into a beacon for alien baby attention.

*brainfart* ._. I'm out of stuff to say about this. Maybe I shouldn't have written this at six in the morning…

EXTRA PROOF STORY:

So, the day I posted the essay thing, my friend called me. She's my only friend who even knows I watch this show, and so I got her to read the article. She knew a whole lot about this already, so the only thing that really surprised her was the story about instructor training. Sadly, her little brother (two years younger than her, so not too little) was in the room, so he decided to try it. He made himself a phantom dragon tail, and while me and my friend were having a heated discussion about this, and he started making comments that his tail, well, wanted to do very bad and perverted things to her.

So that went on for a while, then her baby sister toddled in and started freaking out. This was all over the phone, though, so I couldn't see her reaction. She thinks I'm her grandma (I know -.-), so she grabbed the phone and we had a conversation that went a little like this:

"Nani, Nani!"

"Yes, Boots?" (I call her Boots. Big deal. xD)

"Tail! (insert brother's name here) has a Tail!"

"Really? Is it scaly?"

"Yes!"

"Is it furry?"

She never ended up responding to the last question, so I take it as a no. And that was after he imagined it for 10 minutes.

Yeah. Wow.

MY PLAN OF ACTION:

(I can't help but think that sounds a lot like Man of Action… Oh noez, I'm addicted! =O )

The reason I didn't put this on that forums was that a) I hadn't thought of it at the time and b) no one goes on the forums anymore. But that's about to change.

I'm going to soon start Conspiracies, where everyone (especially me) can post their theories on what is happening, what has happened, and what will happen on Ben 10, both Alien Force and not. There's a lot of crazy stuff in that show, and we need a crack team of fanfic writers/readers to dig up the truth!

So, after I get it started up, I'll post all my theories on here, and it won't just be second sight anymore. Then, I'll make a thread for it on the forum, where all of you can discuss it. (But I still enjoy reviews!) Then, other people can post their theories on the forum, where the rest of us can comment. If there's one interesting enough, I might just make a chapter here all about it, with the person's article and my response.

It'll go like that until some mod threatens to ban me if I don't shut it down, then it will only be the forum. But we shall live on!

I'm probably going to make the forum this afternoon, so bare with me.

Well, it was fun. Stay tuned next time, where I'm probably going to blabber on and on about what Gwen might be able to do with her powers! (But it might be something else.)


End file.
